What I Saw on the Sonogram

What we saw on the sonogram

Looked like a tail

The doctor said--

’No tail’

But I looked at John

And I gave John that look that said--

‘I see a tail and we’re talking about the tail

When we get in the car

And we’re getting a new doctor

And I’m Googling “Babies with Tails”

As soon as we get home’

But when we got in the car

John said he didn’t see the tail

But that’s John

That’s my husband

He sees what he wants to see

And he doesn’t see what he doesn’t want to see

And the last thing he’d want to see

Would be a tail

John is--

John would say--

As long as the baby is healthy

Who cares if it has a tail?

And I don’t care

I want to make it clear

Right now

That I don’t care

If my baby

Has a tail

I will love that little kangaroo baby

No matter what it looks like

But

It seems like, you know

If we could, I don’t know

Do something

About the tail

Why not

You know

Do it?

So that’s what I said

And I said I wanted a new doctor

Because my doctor

A man

Was insisting

That there was no tail

And meanwhile

I’m looking right at it

I’m looking right at a tail

And he’s saying there’s no tail
As if I don’t know what a tail is

As if I’ve never seen a tail before

As if I don’t even know

What a dog or a cat or a--a-a--

A thing with a tail is!

Oh, he says, but listen

To how strong

The heartbeat is

And I’m saying--

Yeah, yeah, yeah

But there’s a TAIL!

And people have been born with tails

That’s what Google says

I looked it up

It’s not unheard of

So I call the doctor
John said I called him triumphantly

But that’s not accurate

I didn’t call him triumphantly

I just called him

To tell him

He was wrong

And I was right

About the tail

And he said that while some people

Are born with tails

My baby does not have a tail

So I hung up on him

And decided on having a midwife

A midwife who specializes in tails

I looked it up

And they have

Those kind

Of midwives

They have everything these days

Anything you can think of, they have

And it’s a good thing too

Because you can’t take any chances

Not with your baby

Not with tails

Not with anything

You really

Have to be prepared

For anything